McDougal Littell - Biology

Genetically Engineered Food:
Completing the "Green Revolution"

Since the dawn of history, human societies have continually bred domesticated plants and animals to improve their usefulness as sources of food, and in so doing have expanded the resources available to support ever larger populations. With the advent of genetic engineering, however, we can accelerate the rate at which we modify plants and animals to become ever better food sources, targeting particular features for improvement, such as cold tolerance, disease resistance, or the production of specific nutrients. With selective breeding, targeting these traits may have taken generations and desired endpoints may never have been achieved. With genetic engineering, we can make precise and controlled changes in a single generation. Better crops and domesticated animals means more food, which means less starvation – potentially a lot less! While political and economic changes will be required around the world to ensure food can actually be distributed to those in need, increasing the supply of food is an important part of the solution.